The Saudi Pro League (SPL),[b] known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL)[c] for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of association football in the Saudi league system.
The first season of competition was the 1976–77 season.[1] The league had been operating as a round-robin tournament from its inaugural season until the 1989–90 season, after that the Saudi Federation decided to merge the football League with the King's Cup in one tournament and the addition of the Golden Box. The Golden Box would be an end of season knockout competition played between the top four teams of the regular league season. These teams would play at a semi-final stage to crown the champions of Saudi Arabia. The league reverted to a round-robin system in the 2007–08 season.
The association is also regularly ranked with the highest coefficient in Asia due to the successful and consistent performances in the AFC Champions League Elite, Asian Super Cup & Asian Cup Winners' Cup by its clubs. Al-Hilal is the most successful team, holding 19 titles in its history and most recently winning the title in 2023–24. Al-Shabab, Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr are also some of the most successful teams in the league.
Beginning in 2023, the league started experiencing widespread international exposure due to attracting numerous top level players from European leagues through financially lucrative contracts, immediately becoming a star-studded league. The nation's Public Investment Fund took 75% stakes in four founding members (Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, and Al-Nassr) in the same year as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 program.
History
Up until the late 1950s, football in Saudi Arabia was organized on a regional basis under the Saudi Regional Leagues, with the King's Cup being the only nationwide tournament. In 1957, the first qualification process consolidated the regional tournaments of the Central, West, East, and North regions. Clubs competed in their regional leagues to qualify for the King's Cup, which was the final stage of the competition. The winner of the King's Cup was not the league winner.[2]
In 1974, a one-time league was founded to end the regional leagues and decide which clubs would play in the upcoming Premier and first division leagues, the league was the Categorization League, 1976–77 season saw the start of the first-ever Premier League in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with eight teams, the following season the number of clubs increased to ten. The 1981–82 season saw the merger of both the Saudi Premier League and the Saudi First Division for that season exclusively to the concern of the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification process. Twenty teams were divided into two groups, A and B. The top two in each group would enter a semi-final stage to determine the overall champions. In the following season which reverted to regular round-robin competition, the number of first-division clubs was later increased to 12 in the 1984–85 season.[citation needed]
In December 1990, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation decided to merge the league with the King's Cup in one tournament, it was decided to revamp local competitions and introduce professional football. A new league championship was formed called "The Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques League Cup", which was a two-stage championship. The first stage was a regular double round-robin league competition with the top 4 qualifying for the final knockout stage, called the golden box. Clubs were allowed to sign players on a professional basis making the league semi-professional. This system lasted for seventeen seasons before reverting to a regular round-robin competition. The league became fully professional in 2007,[3] the league has always been the best league in Asia and is nicknamed the Premier League of Asia.
As of 2024, depending on the nation's coefficient, three teams from Saudi Arabia qualify for the AFC Champions League Elite annually. This includes the top three positions of the league, the winner of the King's Cup qualify for the AFC Champions League Two. If the winner of the King Cup is also among the top three teams then the fourth-best team qualifies for the AFC Champions League Two.
The Saudi Pro League made international headlines in 2023 due to many players from other leagues, particularly those in Europe, transferring to clubs for the 2023–24 season. A record-breaking transfer window took place ahead of the 2023–24 season; Saudi Pro League clubs spent close to $1 billion, acquiring 94 overseas players from Europe’s major leagues. These leagues include France’s Ligue 1, Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga and the English Premier League, according to Deloitte.[4] According to Spanish publication Marca the league has "shaken up the European transfer market".[5]
The nation's Public Investment Fund took 75% stakes in four founding members (Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, and Al-Nassr) in June 2023 as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 program.[6] These actions have been criticised by many sporting journalists and human rights activists, who have described the transfers as part of a sportswashing scheme by the Saudi government.[7][8]
From the 2009–10 season until the 2012–13 season, the league was sponsored by Zain Group and was known as "Zain league".[12] From the 2013–14 season until the 2017–18 season, Abdul Latif Jameel was the sponsor and the league was known as "Jameel league", from the 2018–19 season until the 2021–22 season major restructuring of Saudi football, under which the league's name reverted to the "Saudi Pro League".[13][12][14] From the 2022–23 season, for a five-year period, the sponsor of the league is Roshn and the league is known as "Roshn League".[15]
Sponsorship names
No sponsorship (1976–2008)
Zain Saudi League (2009–2013)
Abdul Latif Jameel League (2014–2017)
No sponsorship (2018–2021)
Roshn Saudi League (2022–present)
Competition format
Competition
As of the 2024–25 Season
There are 18 clubs in the Saudi Pro League. During the course of a season (usually from August to May) each club plays the other clubs twice (a double round-robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for 34 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by position on the league table depending on points, then the head-to-head record between the tied teams is taken into consideration, and then goal difference, Each club can have a total of 30 players, 10 foreigners. 8 of them can be any age, and 2 must be under 20 at the time of signing. 20 Saudi players 15 of them can be of any age, and 5 can be called up from the youth sector if needed or wanted. For each league game, managers can select 8 of the 10 foreigners to be included in the squad.
Promotion and relegation
A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Saudi Pro League and Saudi First Division League. The three lowest-placed teams in the Saudi Pro League are relegated to the First Division, in the first division the top two teams are promoted to the Pro League directly, a play-off system[16] to determine the third team to be promoted alongside the two. Teams placed between third and sixth position take part in the promotion play-offs. The fifth-placed would face the fourth, while the sixth-placed team would face the third. The final would be single-legged, hosted by the higher-placed team.
^King's Cup Winners or league fourth placed team. If the cup winner finishes in the top 3 in the Saudi Pro League, which means they will go to the AFC Champions League Elite, the slot goes to the fourth placed team in the table
^Arabic: دوري المحترفين السعودي; The logo also used "MBS" as an abbreviation for the MBS Pro League (Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Professional League) until the 2021–22 season.
^Arabic: دوري روشن السعودي; Dawri Rushan as-Suʿūdī
